Police catch man after rape attempt

Officers with the Carrboro Police Department caught a man in the woods near Fidelity Street Friday and charged him with attempted first-degree rape.

Police charged Francisco Javier Diaz, 33, of 501 N.C. 54, Apt. Q-1, Carrboro, with attempted first-degree rape, first-degree burglary and sexual battery. A magistrate set his bond at $100,000, and he was being held in the Orange County Jail.

About 4:15 a.m. Friday, a woman living on Fidelity Street called 911 to report that a man had just broken into her apartment and tried to rape her, said Lt. Chris Atack of the Carrboro Police Department.

Police officers rushed to the area, set up a loose perimeter in the area and found the man in the woods nearby. The woman went to the area where police were holding him and identified him as her attacker, Atack said.

The woman told police that she was asleep in her residence when she heard footsteps. She initially thought it was her roommate, but then a man entered her room and began to sexually attack her, Atack said.

The woman fought with the man, and he ran from the residence, Atack said. She did not know the man.